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more than 30 years at can it have you reported on some of the biggest stories in recent history in the bay area. now rita williams is retiring. l to the pope's visit dramatic rescues and child disappearance case some of the remarkable stories during her long career. up next on a second look. hello everyone i'm frank summerville welcome to a second look tonight we dedicate this edition of the second look to our colleague rita williams who is retiring. sheets been a reporter here at ktvu for more than 30 years.

one of the stories was the loma free today earthquake in 1989. a woman died when the car she was driving crashed into the hole in the upper deck. also in that car was the woman's brother-in-law. and a year later rita went back to talk to the man who survived. >> reporter: a survivor, he knows he's lucky to be alive but what happened on the bay bridge last october 17th changed his life forever. >> this i don't know my future is going to be. >> reporter: this is why his future is uncertain. when the earthquake hit he was a passenger in a car driven by his sister-in-law. it was stuck on the bay bridge. two men directed cars to the

upper deck. when people got there no one was around to tell them what to do. they started driving home to oakland not knowing about the break in the bay bridge until they were about 3 feet away. >> there's another car. gosh!. >> when we noticed the hole, we boom and that's the last time i remember until i woke up i was still in the car. >> reporter: the car made it across the hole smashed front first in the concrete then dangled off the top deck with he and his sister-in-law inside. >> i tried to move because i tried to help her as much as i can, but when i move i felt my legs when i look down to my legs they both dislocated. >> reporter: the coast guard

airlifted he and his sister-in- law to letterman hospital where anna mo la 23 was pronounced dead on arrival. his an anguished sister watched it on tv. >> i can't sleep watching it so i called highway patrol. >> reporter: knowing what we all know today, having seen this break in the bridge, it's hard to believe what happened to him that day, but there was mass confusion on the bridge after the earthquake, many people on the lower deck couldn't hear their car radios as cameraman tony ha critic and i ran on to the bridge from san francisco we met people running off some asking what had happened, others warning us the whole bridge was collapsing. he says he's only been on the bay bridge once since the

earthquake and he'll never come back again. >> i'm scared. i'm scared now. >> reporter: a construction worker who used to make $2,000 a month he's had to move his family in with relatives to save money. he got a $25,000 settlement from the state but his disability payments run out next month. he's already had 7 operations on his crushed legs and hip, and faces at least two more. under a picture of anna his sister-in-law who died this deeply religious man who came here from tonga says what happened on the bridge continues to haunt him. >> me and my total life has been affected mind, body and soul. >> reporter: but out of death there's life. they have four sons. they say they prayed for a baby girl to help ease their pain in losing anna. two weeks ago this pound some ounce baby girl was born. they named her anna. >> still to comrie take's

coverage of the dark days in san francisco following the assassinations of mayor moss connie and supervisor milk. a search for a 10-year-old san francisco boy that gained national attention and helped spark a movement to find missing children. you can't move the tv there. yuh-huh. we have a wireless receiver. listen.

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. tonight on a second look we're remembering the career of our colleague rita williams who plans to retire at the end of the month. before she became a full time reporter at ktvu back in 1980 rita was a reporter for kqed and while she was there she covered a story that shook the political foundation of san francisco. the assassinations of mayor george mosconi and supervisor harvey milk. rita remembered those events 30 years later. >> reporter: november 2th,

november 27th, 1978 the impact of the gunshots is still being felt. >> mayor mosconi and supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed. >> i looked at me making the announcement i recognized for the first time i was in a state of shock. >> i remember actually as if it were yesterday, and it was one of the hardest moments if not the hardest moment of my life. >> reporter: it didn't seem to fit. dan white 32, the all american boy supervisor former firefighter, police officer now a killer. board of supervisors president dianne feinstein was a political mentor to white while white was unraveling feinstein was out of the country. because of that she continues to carry a heavy burden.

>> this was my first day back at work, and i still believe that if i could have been there for that three weeks i could have stopped it. now, who knows rita, who knows. >> reporter: what we do know comes in part from white's confession tape and other physical evidence stored here in the police property room. >> this is what's left on this case. >> reporter: i got a rare look 20 years ago at what was left of the evidence in the case that changed san francisco and its politics. with the police inspector who investigated the murder case frank fall son. >> there were so many people that suffered such direct hurts. >> reporter: the biggest packaged contained the clothes dan white wore when he crawled through a window of city hall a 38 stuck in his belt. the gun white used was gone. this court order called for its

destruction in 1982. this is the original letter white sent the mayor 3 weeks earlier resigning from the board of supervisors saying he couldn't support his family on $9,600 a year. he changed his mind and asked for his job basketball back. after mayor george mosconi told him he was appointing someone else he led white into this room. he poured two drinks of liquor into these glasses. mosconi tried to calm white asking about his wife and son. >> then he just came to me and then that was it. i just shot him. >> reporter: when mosconi's body was found, the cigarette was still burning. white then raced down the hall to harvey milk's office. >> i said dan can i talk to

you? he went by. i opened the door i found harvey on his stomach. i tried to get a pulse and put my finger through a bullet hole. he was clearly dead. >> reporter: as feinstein was trying to calm the city, police went to white's home where for days he had been holed up alone in a sleeping bag poring over these newspaper clips about his resignation opposing his reappointment a photo of his dead father. >> dan white wasn't able to handle it. in my opinion he never belonged in city hall, white's defense attorney says dan white was asik man and revealed his wife made him see a psychiatrist a few weeks before he killed himself. >> as i recall he had started medication for depression weeks before. that may have lifted him enough so that he had the energy to

take steps to end his own life. >> reporter: doug schmidt believes the medication caused white to finally see clearly what he had done and he couldn't live with it. on october 21st, 1985 he turned his car into a gas chamber in the garage of his home and sentenced himself to death. when we come back on a second look, rita's interview with the mother of kevin collins. and a bit later the pope came to san francisco and rita williams was there.

. tonight on a second look we're looking at the career of ktvu reporter rita williams who plans to retire at the end of this month. as late as this month rita reported on a case that began nearly 30 years ago, the disappearance of kevin collins. it was the case that drew international attention and also mailed a significant role in the ongoing mission to find missing children.

in 2004 rita updated the search for kevin as it stood at the time. >> reporter: it may seem like the strange place to go to remember your child on his birthday. >> dear effort lord est lord we thank you for the life of kevin. >> reporter: two weeks ago ann collins' son kevin turned 30 if he's still alive. kevin just 10 years old then left basketball practice early at st. agnes school in san francisco ash bury district 20 years ago today and disappeared without a trace. 10 years ago someone the collins' still don't know paid for this marble bench in a coleman cemetery in kevin's memory. since then it's been a magnet for people to leave remembrances for the little boy for his mother and sister it's not enough. >> we still don't know. i mean the bench is here but he's not here. >> i don't want just a bench i

want a body. >> reporter: when their son disappeared that day ann and david collins were just ordinary people suddenly having to deal with an extraordinary event. >> i've always felt like you know there's all these tears down here if i ever start crying i'll never stop crying. >> i've never done a speech in my life so i not only was going through the fear and emotional strain, but trying to be something that i had no experience at. >> reporter: but they forged new ground started a missing children's foundation in their son's name, committed to making it easier for families to recover their children. they advocated fingerprinting children changing procedures score police immediately search for a child and they provided support for families of so many other bay area children who disappeared. part of an exclusive club no one wants to join. back then there were no amber alert, no instant dissemination on the internet, no video

cameras to record an abduction. in retrospect, what they accomplished is amazing. getting kevin's picture on milk cartons on the cover of news week magazine, even in the movie terminator terminator. one of his brothers retraced kevin's last steps in this police video. police enhanced this photo to show what kevin might look at 15. to imagine what he might look like today look at his brother steve. but outside the view of cameras, the family struggled with finances, with worry, with loss. david and ann divorced. ann collins says her children not only lost their brother that day, they also lost their parents. for many years david spent all his time at the foundation. >> first four or five years it

was certainly consuming and difficult emotionally, tough on the family. >> reporter: ann helped too hoping keeping his picture in the news might bring him home alive. back hoping there were 7 other collins children plus a foster child. then 19 laura was oldest. >> we love you kevin. >> we had to get to school grocery shop cook do little boy things and there was nobody there for them. >> reporter: laura and younger sister michelle then 1 became surrogate parents. after a few years they say the children got counseling and ann resumed her role as mother and now as grandmother. but she still closely guards an envelope that contains all that's left of her missing son sharing precious pictures she's never shown publicly before. >> he was always smiling. he was a happy happy baby. >> reporter: kevin andrew

collins, her ofth born child out of 8. >> this picture is the very last picture taken of him. this is on his birthday the year he disappeared. >> reporter: and this is the original photograph of that haunting picture of kevin on all the posters. he was at the black board in a class for dyslexic children when a photographer called his name. the day before he disappeared his father says, kevin was so proud because he had made his first a on a spelling test. >> he was really on a high note when it happened that's what i remember the most. >> reporter: the family hopes that some day someone will provide the clue that will finally stop their grief and bring kevin home. >> i really would lick to know what happened. i want to know where he is and who did it. i want them prosecuted. >> reporter: everyone who loved kevin is sure he's dead. >> i really think that in my heart i feel like he was probably gone the first night.

i always pray that it was fast. >> reporter: on what would have been his 30th birthday a mother prayer for a boy stuck in time at 10 years old. >> he was a bright light we praise you today on his birthday know he's in your loving arms. kevin i live you. thank you lord. when we come back on a second look. >> frustrating when they left after they talked to me. >> rita talks about the stories that touched her personally. [ female announcer ] safeway presents

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in ktvu's coverage of pope join paul 2:00 when , ii when he visited san francisco. >> reporter: historic and emotional meeting at the basilica. pope john paul, ii warmly greeted those along the center aisle of the church some of the 700 invited guests. he approached the it pews of aids patients and the most moving moment brendan 0 rourke reached out to hug the holy father. little brendan contributed aids from a blood transfusion at birth. the pope then moved to other aids sufferers most of them gay. it was the first time the leader of of the catholic church has met directly with

aids sufferers. from there the pope went alone to pray in the old mission, the oldest building in san francisco. in prepared remarks the pope proclaimed the unconditional and everlasting love of god for all people dwelling at length on sin and for giveness. he did not mention homosexuality and only once referred to aids sufferers. >> those of you who are sick, those who are suffering from aids and from aids related conflicts. >> reporter: it wasn't what the pope said publicly the faithful catholics will most remember, it's the way the holy father personally moved each

one of them. . >> this has been the best day of my life. >> gave him a hug it's going to help us through the or teal we're going through. >> he put his hand on my head and then gave me a smile that said yes, that said god loves you, i love you. >> in 1995 ktvu produced a special featuring our reporters it was hosted by bob mckenzie and in it rita talked about how covering some stories had affected her personally. >> i think once you become a parent you bring a different level to reporting, especially if it's a story about children. one that affected me so deeply was a little boy michael nguyen was murdered in golden gate park. his accused murderer still has not gone to trial, but i went

to that little boy's funeral. the little boy had a buddhist funeral and i had never been to one. and at the cemetery they buried with him all of his personal things and there was a mcdonald's happy meal it was just like my son eats. there were his clothes that the mother folded and put in the grave next to her child, and there was a t-shirt and a pair of pants that my son had. and his toys they were the same toys. you couldn't help but think that that could be your child. and i actually walked away and sobbed from the funeral. and a reporter from another station came over and tried to console me because it affected me so deeply. i think that the humanity you have to have that in reporting and you have to be able to feel in some way what people are

feeling that you're covering. >> fortunately for reporters mental health there are happy stories too. rita williams and her photographer stayed on at alpine meld owes when other tv crews gave up and went home. five days after an avalanche buried a young skier. search crews were also giving up hope. >> i guess i'll never forget the owner of alpine meld owes running out with his german accent saying anna, anna, she's alive. they found her, she's alive. >> they brought her out along with a doctor to take care of her so there is hope, there's hope. >> i remember walking in that emergency room. my knees literally were shaking. and i asked her questions and felt like i was almost talking to someone who was super human. >> we hear you were real close to being found yesterday. can you tell us somethin